I recently spoke at the HOSA Flex Conference held at the Phoenix Convention Center in November. HOSA is an international student organization for future health professionals providing opportunities for knowledge, skill and leadership development to meet the needs of the health care community. HOSA is composed of middle school, secondary, and postsecondary/collegiate students, along with professional, alumni, and honorary members. It is the largest student organization which prepares students to enter the healthcare field.

After my presentation, I received a thank-you email from one of the students who wrote: “Thank you for telling us your story. I’m sure many of my classmates appreciated it very much. You are a very inspiration, happy and bright man. May God bless you for the rest of eternity and grant you the ultimate reward one day. If I had less than half of your faith and happiness, I would be the most over joyous and blessed person ever. It was an honor to speak with you on a more emotional level.”

​I wrote back to the student: I taught math for 38 years. If I had more students like you, I would still be teaching. You will change a lot of lives before you leave this world, I know, because you have already changed mine. May you always be blessed. 

Thank heaven for North Carolina. They had the guts to step up and ban clown outfits for Halloween. Our children will be saved from being subjected to oversized shoes, baggy clothes, curly red hair, large red noses and that annoying horn.

Finally, we can go back to the good old days of bloody zombies, vampires, Freddy Krueger and Michael Myers and best of all, past presidents. Now, where did I put my Richard Nixon mask?
                                                --Jeff Lewis, Mesa